The present invention relates generally to room dividers, more particularly, it relates to portable, freestanding room dividers. There are times that it is desired to divide large areas, such as rooms or halls, into smaller more private areas. Noise levels may also be reduced within the area. One method of doing this is by the use of movable wall panels, which are suspended from and move on tracks attached to the ceiling and/or floor. This method is relatively expensive and it is inflexible. The present invention seeks to overcome these drawbacks.
Another method of dividing large areas into smaller private areas is to use movable freestanding walls. This method is relatively inexpensive and it permits the formation of areas of a wide variety of shapes, but the presently available freestanding walls present storage and handling problems. Sound is known to both be an environmental health hazard and has a disruptive effect on productivity in the work place. The wall panel can include materials, which provide many environmental benefits such as noise level reduction in addition to fire retardation and light absorbency. Current belief is that a reduction in noise level of 5 decibels can cut the risk of hearing loss by 50 percent. A study by the American Society of Interior Designers have found that 70% of office employees felt that their productivity was reduced due to noise, however this study also found that 81% of executives were not aware that a noise problem existed.
There is a need for a portable, freestanding room divider for dividing large areas into a wide variety of different shaped smaller and more private areas, which does not present storage and handling problems.
It is an object of the present invention to disclose an inexpensive, portable, freestanding room divider for dividing large areas into smaller private areas, which can be one panel or a plurality of panels connected together in a flat or ring design.
It is a further object to disclose a portable, freestanding room divider, which does not present the storage, and handling problems of prior art freestanding panel units.
The apparatus of the present invention comprises in one embodiment a plurality of foldable panels, which can be unfolded to form a wall or connected to form a ring shape. Each wall panel has at least two braces and T-shaped supports on rolling means, such as wheels, casters or rolling balls with claw devices; the panels are connected by bars or tubes, which can be telescoping and mounted on pins at each end of the top of the panel, opposite the braces and T-shaped supports.
In a preferred embodiment, the wall panels are mounted on rolling means such as wheels, casters or rolling balls with claw devices. The means for joining the panels can be supplemented with hinges bolted to two adjoining panels, which aid in keeping the panels connected together.
The present invention comprises a freestanding room divider comprising a first panel comprising a first top, a first bottom, a first right side, a first left side; a second panel comprising a second top, a second bottom, a second right side, a second left side; a first rail attached to the first bottom; a second rail attached to the second bottom; a first panel first brace and a first panel second brace for engaging the first rail, and a second panel first brace and a second panel second brace for engaging the second rail and wherein first and second braces each further comprises at least one vertical member attached to at least one horizontal member; a first pin and a second pin disposed on the first top; and a third pin and a fourth pin disposed on the second top; and a bar having a first end and second end wherein the first end engages the second pin and the second end engages the third pin connecting the panels.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description that follows that the aforementioned and other objects can be achieved by the apparatus of the present invention.